And silas crispin



POULTNEYI & CRISI/PIN,

- Breech-Loading Fire-Arm. I No. 64,701. Patented May 14", 1867.

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THOMAS POULTNEY, ,OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, AND SILAS CRISPIN, OF NEWYORK, N. Y, A SSIGNORS TO THOMAS POULTNEY.

Letters Patent No. 64,701, dated .May 14, 1867.

IMPROVEMENT IN BREEGH-LQADIN G FIRE-ARMS.

TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known that we, THOMAS POULTNEY, of the city of Baltimore, in theState of Maryland, and SILAS CRISPIN, of thecity and State of New York,have invented a certain improvement in the construction of Breech-Loadi-ng'Fire-Arms, of which the following specification embraces afull, clear, and exact description, taken in connection with iheaccompanying drawings, and the letters of reference thereon. I

The nature of our invention consists in the peculiar manner of formingthe breech-piece receptacle (in arms having a breech-piece hinged toswing upward and forward, and lying in.a recess formed in the barrel,)so as to facilitate the insertion of the primed metalliecartridge, andafterward the expulsion of the shell, in that class of breech-loadingarms, without detriment to the strength of this part. On the drawing.-

- 'Figurcl is an exterior side view of so much of such an arm asembraces our improvement, the breech-piece being thrown over out of itsreceptacle.

Figure 2 is a plan view of the same, with the breech-piece removed.

Figure 3 shows, looking forward, a cross-section through the red line:1: x, fig. 1.

New, for example, in converting arms from muzzle-loaders intobreech-loaders of this class, it has been usualto out an aperture downthrough the top of the barrel, and form a recess somewhat wider than theoriginal bore, and correspondingly deeper to receive the breech-piece,leaving the 'walls, so to speak, on each side of the recess as high, ornearly so, as the nature of the operation permitted, for the sake ofstrength at this point. Now, it will be clear that the wall on theright-hand side, as the weapon is being loaded, impedes that operation,as it is in. the way of the thumb, particularly it the hand is gloved.Oorresponrlingly, the cartridge in being ejected has to be lifted to aninconvenient height, requiring a. proportionate suddenness and force ofaction of thoejecting device involving the use of a spring to operatethe latter, and drive the catridge-shell over the rear of thebreech-piece receptacle. New, by our form of constructingthe'breechpiiece receptacle, we make its right wall or side very low,without impairing the strength of the part; thus rendering the insertionof the cartridge extremely facile, and enabling the empty shell to bereadily thrown out sideways from the breech-piece receptacle, by thesimple means of apositive extractor (without a spring) and a guidingstud, slanting upward and laterally,,located at the bot-tom of thereceptacle at some little distance forward of the recoil bearings, andwith which the cartridge, in being ejected from the barrel, coming in'contact, is thrown out of the weapon as stated, It will be evident thatmerely cutting away the right side of the breech-piece receptacle forits entire length, and down to a point but little aboveits bottom, andproportionately cutting away the lock-plate and the wood of the stock atthis point, would afford the desired facility for the insertion of thecartridge, but this would cave the weapon not only with a mutilatedappearance, but too weak at this portion. Both of these objections,ion-ever, we obviate by the employment of a side horizontal reinforce orlip, A, projecting from the breechii'ecc receptacle (and running itsentire length) sufiiciently far to cover the wood of the stock and thelock-plate vherc'these would he cut away, or even Further, and the innerangle of its junction with the barrel being rounded *Yciyledvels afinish agreeable to the eye and the use. The reinforce A. may be brazedon, but we propose o n ako it a real portion of the barrel, as follows,viz, by slitting the barrel longitudinally along near its top suflicientdistance, then down its right side from each extremity of this slit,andat right angles to it, to the .dttom of the bore; and by turning downhorizontally the part so liberated (on three sides) to the desiredosition, it can then be flattened out, and bereadily finished off in'amachine'to about the size and forin shown 1 figsvzand 3., I

The configuration and position of the guiding stud, before referred to,is indicated (in red, for greater disnction,) by z, figs. 1 and 2. Itsfront, as seen, curves not only upward to lifttlie cartridge-shell byits impact it is thrown out of the barrel by some proper ejectingdevice, but is set slanting, so as to deflect it at the nne instantsidewise over A and outof the weapon altogether, in a manner as will be'understood. This aiding stud, .when employed with our style ofbreech-piece receptacle, should, to render the meritsrof the latter orefully available, always have the characteristics mentioned to enable itto deflect the cartridge-shell in the tuner stated, whatever its preciseform. It will readily be seen that by the employment of the reinforcedA, the weakening of the weapon 'a,t the breech-piece receptacle, bycutting down the side of the latter as low as described, is prevented,while the advantages set forth are at the same time attained.

Having now fully described the nature of our improvement, what we claim,and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- The horizontal reinforcelip or projecti0n,-described, on the breech-piece receptacle ofbreech-loading fire-arms of the class specified, said reinforce beingformed and loeaterl substantially in the manner and for the purpose setforth, and having, to serve in combination with it, a, guiding stud, a,or its equivalent in effect, also as explained, for the purposeexplained.

' THOMAS POULTNEY,

SILAS CRISPIN.

Witnesses:

GHAs. J. MOGOWAN, ALLEN G. SINCLAIR.

